Cables

What began with its 42-strand and 79-strand speaker cables has seen QED on a journey of discovery culminating 40 years later in this flagship Supremus offering. Closer in physical bulk and generally unwieldiness to a hawser than a speaker cable, QED's new top-of-the range wire has almost nothing in common with the figure-of-eight-shaped 79-strand cable that was in the vanguard of that early subjective revolution.

QED, along with Monster, kick-started a specialist cable industry that has since grown to global proportions, but the brand has always evolved its designs in line with thoroughly researched and, in my view, sensibly pragmatic engineering principles. So the Supremus is mercifully free of snake oil...

A 2m stereo pair costs £860 (or £1760 for a 5m stereo pair), all terminated in either cold-welded Airloc² rhodium-plated 4mm speaker plugs or spades. Under that tightly constrained and semi-translucent bronze-coloured jacket, QED has deployed a symmetrical pair of conductors, gently twisted together with hollow polymer tubes to maintain their shape and geometry. Each conductor comprises 16 5N-quality, cryogenically treated copper strands that are silver-plated and then individually insulated from one another by a vanishingly thin enamel coating. These strands are then gently wrapped around a foamed (low-density) polyethylene (PE)core and given an insulating PE jacket.

QED's managed geometry and specification is borne out in the lab with its Supremus providing a very low 5.7mohm/m series resistance (a loss of just 0.0062dB/m), a low 48.6pF/m capacitance and 0.52µH/m loop inductance. If you can deal with the bulk, it's a perfect contender for long runs.

A Slam Dunk
Deployed with my B&W 800 D3s [HFN Oct '16] and both Devialet and Constellation Taurus amps [HFN Dec '17], QED's Supremus cable enabled a huge, and hugely impressive, sound to develop in the room. Bass possessed an unfettered slam while the twang of metal-stringed guitar and swift tap of percussion had a 'snap' that was both fresh and vital sounding. The exquisitely-recorded Extra Time by the Jean-Paul Brodbeck Trio [Enja Yellowbird Records; YEB 77742] truly blossomed, as the punchy 'Rocka-Roas' showcased the interplay between piano, guitar and percussion and the Supremus-equipped system penetrated through to the finest of details with no hint of harshness.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
Physical flexibility is not the forte of the Supremus but, partnered with the lustiest of high current amplifiers and mightiest of floorstanding loudspeakers, it can assist in delivering a mighty performance. With very low power loss across the audioband it's the perfect solution for high-end systems that need remote amplification and long cable runs, and all without breaking the bank. If you want your system to breathe free, try dosing it with QED's Supremus.

Price: £1760 (5m stereo set, terminated in expanding 4mm plugs)